March 6, 2023
Last night Asra Nomani, an employee of ultra-conservative Independent Women's Forum, and several of her allies tried to crash a zoom meeting of pro-public schools advocates.
We were meeting to talk about how we might protect students and their schools from the all out frontal attack the Governor and his appointees are staging against them, particularly this week, against the History standards.
Asra made a rather big deal about the meeting being open only to those who support public schools, and the discovery she thought she was exposing that I was Red4EdVA.
She posted the flyer 👉👉👉
that I shared January 13, 2019, eleven days before the Virginia Red for Ed March, and I'm so glad she did.
Florida had a march, Arizona, Washington State, and West Virginia, but some people said, Virginia can’t do it. Virginians are not brave enough or strong enough. No one cares enough about Virginia’s schools to take such a stand.
But in May 2018, about a dozen dedicated volunteers set about to make it happen. Some were union members, some were not. Virginia Educators United decided first and foremost we would welcome anyone who supported our public schools. We funded most needs for the march, like permits and insurance, with pocket money from our own wallets and what we made off t-shirt sales.
Across nine months people reached out to one another. Day by day our numbers grew as friends and neighbors came together over time.
They made their plans, “I’m going. Come and go with me,” they said, and they came from Wise and Winchester, from Richmond and Roanoke, from Frederick County and Fredericksburg, from Virginia Beach and Colonial Beach, from Arlington and Accomack.
They had heard Virginia was 47th in state funding for schools while school buildings were crumbling in urban and rural areas. Yet, Virginia schools were delivering stellar learning experiences and results for their students, ranking near the top on measure after measure..
So they came. There were mothers and fathers, grandparents, and teachers, students and friends, administrators and officials, politicians and cafeteria ladies, carpenters, nurses, and electricians. There were people of all races and faiths, different life circumstances, and vastly different economic situations, but we were all Virginians. And all came to say our public schools are important to us and our communities, to our families and most of all our kids.
They came to say the schools and children of Virginia matter. Every child of Virginia, without exception.
On the day of the march, we gathered in Monroe Park, and volunteers had assignments all through the 1 mile parade route. I brought up the back, crisscrossing through the lines and making sure all was well along the route.
When I came near the Capitol grounds, I could hear the roar of the people. So could the legislators in session inside the Capitol. Then I rounded the corner. There were thousands of people; spilling all over the grounds, filling the steps and the pedestals, cheering, with signs and banners waving everywhere.
Several times lately I’ve been in a space where someone mentioned the Red for Ed March, and each time someone in the room’s eyes lit up and they smiled. “I was there that day.” “So was I,“ says another.
So, I’d like to thank Asra for reposting our flyer because it says exactly who @Red4EdVA is and what we want to support.
Seeing it again brought back all the feelings of that day.
Asra said this is Cheryl Binkley. She is @Red4EdVA. Everyone who knows me knows I am #Red4Ed, but only as one of thousands, only as one of many who do the yeoman's work shoulder to shoulder, proudly.
We have made progress since that day, in spite of a massive global pandemic, and those who would like to practice disaster capitalism on the schools of our commonwealth. Yet, today we need one another more than ever.
Together we can recover and thrive as communities, for the sake of our children and Virginia’s future place in history. You can make a difference.
- Join a pro-public schools group in your town or county,
- ask candidates and policy makers where they stand this year on supporting our public schools.
- Watch for actions and alerts to voice your support for the kids and their education.
- Don’t be faked out by those who use misleading phrases like “school choice” and name call others as “woke” or commies, or pedophiles, or socialists, or represent parents who only believe some parents should have rights.
- Maybe even wear Red4Ed to let people know we are proud of our schools.
A beautiful future is just around the corner. Be #Red4EdVA.
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